Subject: Weekend Update: March 16-18, 2001
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 21:20:00 -0500

Here I am on the West Coast and I forgot that it is Monday and time
for a Weekend Update.  Flying west can discombobulate a person.  It
could be this fresh, environmental Oregonian air I'm forced to breathe
here.

Emily Pearl attended the north east regional Festival of Life, as
Eastern Nazarene College likes to call its high school recruitment
event.  This got her out of school for a few days and kept her up past
her normal hours of operation.  It also gave Joy what has been a very
rare experience in the past of being outnumbered in the house by men.
She tolerates us well, however.  On Friday night, the three of us hit
the Food Court at the local mall before running some Home Depot (home
construction place) errands to pick up some lighting accessories.  The
Spa Room now has electrical lighting and with the paint job and the
trim work, we are actually nearing completion of the project.  Jim
Hedlund has a little trim, and will lay some cement board down, and
build a stairway out to the back yard and everything else will rest on
our shoulders.  I will complete the tile flooring myself, and we will
paint the exterior in the Spring.  Voila!  End in sight!

I had a cough that had begun to cause me concern because I have had
some bouts with bronchitis more frequently in the past few years.
Knowing that I had my business trip coming up on Sunday, I made an
appointment with my doctor to err on the side of prudence and treat
the cough.  I'd hate to try and let the cough work its way through
only to find out that I was right in my suspicion of bronchitis and be
stuck miserable in Portland.  There are other reasons to be miserable
in Portland besides chest coughs.  My doctor agreed with my prudence
even though he could not diagnose that I was coming down with
bronchitis, so he prophylactically prescribed an antibiotic.

Miranda brought three freshmen women home with her on Saturday for a
day's retreat from the pressures of college and Festival of Life.  She
and her friends had fun preparing dinner that evening. I didn't get to
benefit from it, having to dash off to choir practice with a
chicken-burger in my hand.  I didn't mind too much, except that there
was none when I got back!  Put college kids and real home-cooked food
together and don't get in between them! They enjoyed the spa and the
pinball games, too, and I was glad to have them home.

On Sunday, I enjoyed singing "Ten Thousand Angels".  The
aforementioned cough caused me some concern about my voice.  However,
things turned out well.

Joy stayed home because of abdominal pain; she is trying to ride
things out until her scheduled surgery, and so pops pain medication.
I have asked her to reduce her activity to a minimum, and I think she
really doesn't have much choice these days, but she is beginning to
comply with the "slow down and take it easy" mandate. I am thankful
for those of you who have offered your help.  We really do appreciate
it.  We'll get through this trial, too, as we have with the others,
and look forward to full recovery and normalcy (finally) in mid-May
and beyond.

Mark
--
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, metcalfe@cadence.com
| c a d e n c e | Cadence Design Systems, Inc.    Phone: (978) 446-6451
+---------------+ PCB Systems Division, Technical Communications Manager